Going to investigate the cave?

Zhu Sheng looked down, chuckled, and said, "If Brother Zhang is interested, I will naturally accompany you."

"Great!"

Zhang Kui laughed heartily, and the two of them walked down the stone steps without hesitation.

Fatty Tiger followed behind them with a bitter expression, mumbling cautiously:

"This place is eerie and strange, definitely not friendly territory. Even I, a demon, don't want to get involved; there's something..."

Suddenly, Zhang Kui's voice came from ahead,

"Fatty Tiger, if you're scared, stay outside."

Uh...

Fatty Tiger glanced at the mist-shrouded ancient road behind him, shrank his neck, and quickly shut his mouth, hastening to catch up.

Perhaps due to the presence of evil Qi, not a single blade of grass grew on the stone steps here, and there wasn't even a trace of moss, instead presenting a metallic lustrous texture on the surface.

The cave was pitch black. Although Zhang Kui had night vision, for convenience, he still held a torch in one hand while gripping the Lu Li sword tightly in the other.

Looking from the outside, the flickering torchlight could be seen spiraling down the stone steps, gradually disappearing into the darkness...

The cave was deathly silent, eerily quiet, only the coarse breathing of Fatty Tiger behind them could be heard, along with the occasional dripping sound.

After an unknown amount of time, they descended about several hundred meters underground when the terrain suddenly leveled out, forming an "L" shape. After walking a hundred meters, a sense of expansiveness abruptly appeared.

It was a spacious hall, the floor entirely paved with bluestones several meters square.

Suddenly,

a blue-faced, tusked face the size of a round table appeared, looming eerily in the dark.

"Awooo!"

Fatty Tiger was startled, his whole body bristling, and the tiger's roar echoed continuously through the hall.

"What's with the shouting? It's a corpse..."

Zhang Kui was also taken aback and reprimanded him discontentedly.

Among the two men and a tiger, his night vision was the best, so he glanced around and threw the torch he was holding forward.

The torch traced an arc in the dark before clattering into a large bronze basin and soon burst into bright flames.

Some unknown mechanism caused multiple bronze basins to ignite sequentially in the darkness, quickly illuminating the entire hall.

The brightness of these flames was astonishing, with no black smoke, and the air had a faint refreshing sense to it.

"Merfolk Ointment!"

Zhu Sheng was astonished, "This stuff doesn't rot for a thousand years, but only the imperial family could afford it. Legend has it that the former dynasty provoked the Nether Sea Mansion because of it, and that's why no one dares to refine it anymore."

Though rare, the current scene was even more extraordinary.

Beside the hall stood a towering furnace over a hundred meters high, made of unnamed white giant stones, half of which had already collapsed.

Nearby were various large and small bronze hammer and crushing tools, some only as large as a thumb, others as large as a carriage, all layered with patina, bizarre beyond compare.

This was clearly a forging room.

A desiccated giant corpse, ten meters tall, knelt on the ground, holding a massive bronze hammer, its head detached; it was the face they had seen earlier.

Seeing the scene before them, everyone was rendered speechless.

Zhang Kui frowned, picked up an object from the ground, which turned out to be a small humanoid mummy no bigger than a palm, with a twisted face and bat-like wings on its back.

Besides those, scattered around were numerous human mummies, all either decapitated or with holes in their heads, their clothes tattered and of a style completely different from the present.

"Are these demon corpses?"

Fatty Tiger looked aghast.

Zhang Kui looked at the giant corpse and shook his head slightly, "They might also be from the Ancient Relic Race, this should be a forging room of the Square Immortal Road."

Zhu Sheng's expression was solemn, "Enslaving exotics, this Square Immortal Road is indeed bizarre. I wonder what calamity they suffered..."

"Who knows?"

Zhang Kui shook his head, "Let's look around carefully, and if we can't find anything, we'll leave quickly."

"Brother Zhang is right."

Zhu Sheng nodded in agreement, and the two began searching separately, while Fatty Tiger, eyes rolling, stuck closely behind Zhang Kui, not leaving him an inch.

Zhang Kui didn't mind, having long noticed that his mount was lazy, greedy, and slippery, timid as ever.

He inspected meticulously, not overlooking any spot, hoping to find some treasure.

But the results were somewhat disappointing.

The bronze tools had long lost their Spirit Charm, no different than mundane objects.

The ground was devoid of any weapons, the corpses were very clean, and even the strange runes on the walls seemed intentionally destroyed, scratched beyond recognition.

Apparently, the place had been looted long ago...

Zhang Kui felt somewhat disappointed. It's said that the Square Immortal Road excelled at refining Outer Pills and offering gods for artifact refining, who knows what they created that ignited dark turmoil, leading to the fall of the Great Zhou's thousand-year empire.

Could it have been from that time?

Just then, Zhu Sheng's excited voice suddenly came from afar, "Brother Zhang, come quick!"

Zhang Kui looked up and instantly dashed over.

He saw a bronze box hacked open, spilling a variety of minerals all over the place, some black as ink, some red as blood, others even crystalline and transparent...

"Mo Tie, Vermilion Stone, Cave Abyss Stone..."

Zhu Sheng's lips trembled, "And many more I'm not sure of, must be taken back to the sect for verification, but just these are enough to refine an excellent Flying Sword..."

"The sect's long-cherished wish, within reach, I..."

"It's good to have a harvest!"

Zhang Kui laughed heartily, patting Zhu Sheng's shoulder, "See? That's why one gets nowhere without taking risks, this trip wasn't in vain."

Zhu Sheng beamed with joy, rubbing his hands, "After returning, I'll definitely seclude for three years to train in Sword, but I could first help Brother Zhang refine a weapon, since that Lu Li is just ordinary."

Zhang Kui scratched his head, "I'm used to Lu Li, kind of reluctant to part with it."

"That's easily solved!"

Zhu Sheng nodded, "Reforging will surely transform Lu Li. My sect has a secret technique..."

Zhang Kui's eyes grew brighter, inquiring in detail.

Seeing the two engrossed in conversation, Fatty Tiger yawned out of boredom.

Confirming there was no danger here, his lazy nature resurfaced, so he jumped onto a stone platform to take a nap.

As he lay comfortably, Fatty Tiger suddenly sensed something in his peripheral vision,

something watching him...

He quickly turned his head, seeing a bronze statue in a wide robe and feathered cap. There were several of these around the walls, all lifeless, mundane objects.

Fatty Tiger paid it no mind, closing his eyes and swishing his tail, inadvertently spinning the statue half a turn.

Crack!

The ground suddenly trembled slightly.

Both men and the tiger froze in surprise.

"Fatty Tiger, what did you do?"

Zhang Kui barked.

"Master Kui, I didn't..."

Fatty Tiger was about to make an excuse when a rumbling sound came, and a stone wall in the hall began to sink, revealing a deep stone corridor.

"Master Kui, I found a secret passage!"

Fatty Tiger immediately boasted proudly.

Zhang Kui was speechless; this fool was clearly lying.

However, it was indeed a fortuitous accident; the hidden passage was well-concealed and utterly traceless, undiscovered by both him and Zhu Sheng.

After a brief discussion, Zhang Kui stored most of the minerals in his Personal Space, the rest Zhu Sheng wrapped into a bundle and carried on his back.

Then, holding torches, they cautiously entered the secret passage.

The passageway was entirely constructed of bluestone, with no traps or mechanisms. They hadn't walked far when they found a side chamber.

Inside was a pile of child corpses, their faces twisted together, alongside an adult corpse lying face-up.

Zhang Kui and Zhu Sheng exchanged glances.

"This was probably a refuge route, only, it's unclear why these children didn't escape."

"Let's keep going."

The two shook their heads, continuing down the passage.

This passage was extremely long, twisting for several kilometers without reaching the end. After another stick of incense time, they finally arrived at a stone chamber.

Inside the chamber lay a skeleton clutching a rusted bronze handle on the wall with its right hand.

"Brother Zhang, what's that?"

Zhu Sheng suddenly pointed at the wall, and Zhang Kui looked to see a stone hole with light faintly seeping through.

"It seems to be an observational hole..."

Zhang Kui shook his head, putting his eye to it, and then exclaimed softly:

"Why is that thing here?"

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